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July 1, 2009
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GSA Talks Dashboard
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| A big shoutout to sponsor Stout and Teague, offering great office space at the Resources & Conservation Center, 1400 16th St, NW. Work in a building you're proud of: Green roof, views of the White House, operating costs among the lowest in the city; find more here. |
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| Yesterday was a big day at GSA, as the agency again helped the administration launch a major initiative. This time: IT Dashboard, part of USASpending.gov, allowing citizens to track government spending. For details, we cornered Michele Heffner, Acting Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator (honestly, we double-checked that title) for GSA’s Office of Technology Strategy, which helps support the development of the new dashboard site. |
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Michele tells us the IT Dashboard uses available information but puts it in an easier format, so citizens can look into more than 700 major federal IT investments. “We’re seeing a fundamental change in the way government is using technology to reach people to the point we can never go back to how things used to be. It’s exciting,” she says. Michele recently returned from the Office of Science and Technology Policy where she worked on the Open Government initiative which promotes more transparency, participation, and collaboration in Government.
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Michele is a rarity in Washington—she grew up here (Montgomery), went to school here (UMd), and has worked at GSA for longer than she’d like to mention (almost 18 years). She also stays busy with two kids, one who plays on the Penn State soccer team and the other who just graduated from Salisbury University.
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| East Beats West |
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This morning: an all-star panel of VCs at Deloitte’s Tech Venture Center in Tysons: New Atlantic Ventures’ John Backus, Valhalla’s Scott Frederick, Grotech’s Steve Fredrick (no relation to Scott), and Edison’s Sever Totia. Each says they’re on a normal investing pace, so there is money being spent, but Silicon Valley VCs have dried up. “They are eternal optimists, so a lot of them spent heavily during the early downturn and weren’t able to replenish their funds,” John says. Scott says he and a portfolio company are talking with 20 western investors but estimates only five have money to spend.
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Some other nuggets: Hot sectors include digital media, healthcare IT, education, and enterprise software, while companies that need capital investments are all but dead. Oh, and we must include this exchange:
Steve: “I hate to say it, but we only make money when people grossly overpay. Oh, I probably shouldn’t say that.”
John: “Don’t worry, it will be in Bisnow this afternoon.”
We're nothing if not cooperative!
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| Radioheads! |
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Congrats to Federal marketing guru Mark Amtower for starting to broadcast (well, at least record) at the Tower Club for his “Amtower Off Center” gig on Bonneville’s Federal News Radio. Here we snapped him yesterday with the station’s not-so-secret weapon, program director Lisa Wolfe, right, and Professional Services Council’s Dee Lee, otherwise known to you aficionados as one of DoD’s and FEMA’s top procurement officials in recent years. We were on the scene to snap this because Amtower said he wanted publisher Bisnow as his first guest. Why? Because he was the first to originate a show from the Tower Club, back in the 90s when "Bisnow on Business" did a run for WTOP. And here we thought no one remembered the 90’s.
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| M.C. Dean Turns 60 |
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Our friends at M.C. Dean celebrated their 60th last weekend. Here's CEO Bill Dean meeting families inside the Chantilly-based electronic and telecommunication engineering company’s new Pre-Installation Testing and Check-Out (PITCO) lab. Happy, happy!
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This newsletter is a journalistic news source which accepts no payment for featured interviews. It is supported by conventional advertisers clearly identified in the right hand column. You have been selected to receive it either through prior contact or professional association. If you have received it in error, please accept our apologies and unsubscribe below. © 2009, Bisnow on Business, Inc., 1323 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036. All rights reserved.
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